“That noble?”

“Sister’s Master. It’s the first time I’ve seen my sister so blindly devoted to someone other than our parents. Even though he saved our father’s life, it seems a bit excessive at times.”

Terry leaned on her chin and looked back at Jerry.

Her younger brother had inherited their father’s quick mind and their mother’s deft hands, making him skilled at disguise.

Even his unremarkable appearance was a perfect blend of his father and mother, so no one could deny he was of the Rats’ bloodline.

Terry, on the other hand, while able to erase her presence and remain mostly unnoticed, had somewhat striking, delicate features.

People would mock Terry, saying she was too handsome for a rat, and that the rat family was raising a cat.

Terry personally crushed the noses of those who talked like that, but deep down, she realized that blood couldn’t be denied.

Unlike Jerry, she was a complete stranger without a drop of her parents’ blood.

So Jerry could never understand.

The feelings with which she repaid Belinda’s kindness.

Terry smiled bitterly, realizing that the only ones who could understand her true feelings weren’t the family who had taken her in, but her former comrades from the slum fighting pits where they had torn at each other.

“There’s something called fate that children don’t understand, foolish brother.”

“We’re not that far apart in age, yet you always treat me like a child.”

Seeing Jerry puff his cheeks pretending to be upset like a young girl, Terry barely suppressed the urge to smack that detestable head and continued.

“Anyway. Let’s move now.”

She had suspected that Sybel’s mother might have used her family’s influence to collude with the notary and alter the will.

Contrary to her suspicious circumstances, no connection could be found between the notary and Count Barbet.

Moreover, Count Barbet, while not exactly virtuous, was extremely aristocratic and knew proper boundaries. He wasn’t the type to personally intervene in another family’s power struggle.

Therefore, they had reached the somewhat unsatisfying conclusion that the notary hiding in Count Barbet’s territory was purely coincidental.

However, instead of immediately nodding at Terry’s words, Jerry gestured to the short note Belinda had sent.

“Are you sure this is okay?”

Terry’s gaze fell on the note.

There was a postscript added by Belinda.

According to information obtained through Mary, Sybel’s aide’s whereabouts had been unknown for the past few days.

They had quickly ordered the Rats to track the aide, but his whereabouts were still unknown.

“You’re a former hound, right? I think it would be better to fully track down this aide person before making a move.”

Jerry was right.

Terry knew that following Jerry’s advice would help avoid potential traps or dangers, but she anxiously shook her head.

“No, we’re moving forward as planned. If the aide is really plotting something, we need to resolve this matter as quickly as possible and return to Master’s side.”

Although she had already been thoroughly deceived by Belinda’s “Cecil’s Lullaby,” habits aren’t easily broken.

This time, too, she was pushing things forward somewhat hastily.

***

“I, I, I don’t know anything.”

The notary, who had been enjoying a leisurely retirement lifestyle, turned pale and began sweating profusely as soon as Terry and Jerry, who had found his hotel room, mentioned Blanche’s name.

Terry smiled kindly and poured him cold water as if she were in her own home.

“I haven’t asked anything yet. But you should wet your throat with some water first.”

The notary gulped down the water with trembling hands and finally calmed down enough to examine the person before him.

The butler serving Lady Belinda Blanche was a very young man, too young for such a position.

No, perhaps it was a woman.

But gender wasn’t important.

The notary opened his mouth while firmly holding down his trembling hands.

“The truth is… being a notary is a profession with a fairly high chance of ‘accidental death’ right before or after a will is made public. Stray sparks tend to fly… and I haven’t cultivated much of a relationship with either Sir Sybel Blanche or Lady Belinda Blanche…”

The notary stammered, constantly wiping away sweat.

Terry could fully understand his feelings.

The heavier the value tied to a will, the more innocent notaries caught between power struggles ended up dead.

Terry had also heard stories of people beating up notaries simply because their names weren’t included in wills.

But the notary’s reaction was excessive.

As if he knew something.

Terry deliberately held the notary’s hand firmly, showing sympathy.

“My, how much you must have suffered. Lady Blanche considered your feelings and sent me to you.”

“P-pardon?”

“How could someone who has spent their entire life in the royal capital spend the rest of their days in such a remote territory?”

“Well… it’s a bit confining, but not terribly inconvenient…”

The notary couldn’t strongly deny it.

Though just a pastime, he enjoyed gambling as a hobby.

Someone accustomed to gambling at the most famous casino on the continent and to the luxurious culture of the royal capital would surely be itching to stay in this backwater where he could only roll small stakes and where there was nothing to see but fields and barley.

“Lady Blanche sent me to make you a proposal.”

“A… proposal?”

“Yes, and you won’t suffer any loss. Rather, you might be able to unburden yourself.”

At last, the notary’s posture became more eager.

He leaned his upper body toward Terry and swallowed hard.

“Both Sir Sybel Blanche and Lady Belinda Blanche lost much with this will. Sir Sybel gained a title without substance, while Lady Belinda received gold without glory.”

“That’s right.”

And as a result, only the notary was put in a difficult position.

He had incurred the anger of both Belinda and Sybel.

If only all the property and title had been left to one of them, the notary could have simply aligned himself with that designated heir.

Watching the notary swallow, Terry continued softly.

“Since neither party is satisfied with the will, what if you were to invalidate it?”

“W-what?! H-how could I possibly do such a thing!”

The notary’s face turned pale again.

“I-I didn’t hear anything! I didn’t hear a thing!”

This was an extremely dangerous deal.

The notary sensed this and abruptly stood up, trying to leave, when—

“Notary, you must have noticed that the handwriting in the first part of Lord Jonas Blanche’s will differs from the pressure of the pen in the latter part.”

The notary’s feet seemed nailed to the spot.

“W-what do you mean…”

“Belinda told me that at the time, she was so shocked by the will’s contents that she didn’t notice anything strange. But thinking about it later, she found it odd that the handwriting in the first and second parts of the will she saw in person was quite different.”

“T-that’s…”

“Oh, I’m not saying the will was forged. The handwriting has already been authenticated, and since you were present when the will was written, no one could have tampered with it.”

Terry continued gently, softly pushing down on the notary’s shoulders to make him sit again.

“However, the handwriting examiner gave this opinion: the first part about passing the title to Sir Sybel Blanche is undoubtedly Lord Jonas’s usual handwriting, but the part specifying Lady Belinda Blanche’s dowry was written in quite a hurry. As if the latter part had been hastily rewritten later.”

“….”

The notary squeezed his eyes shut, unable to bear hearing more.

“Notary, Lord Jonas Blanche rewrote the will, didn’t he?”

“A-as long as the w-writer is a-alive, a will c-can be rewritten any n-number of times…”

“Yes, of course. But what I want to ask is this.”

Terry stood in front of the notary and handed him the glass of cold water.

“It seems Lord Jonas wasn’t in his right mind when he rewrote the will.”

The notary’s hand holding the glass trembled so much that water spilled over, wetting his pants.

“I understand Lord Jonas was suffering from delirium. A will written by someone who wasn’t mentally sound—couldn’t it be invalidated through litigation?”

As Terry asked this, her lips still wore a kind smile.